Halfway through! Time for a midyear check-in! Some fun categories for everyone to share their reading year so far.

Books Read: 143 Pages Read: 35,417

Best Book: 200 Monas Worst Book: Femme Feral (for using AI) Murder Bimbo (for content) Best Debut: 200 Monas Best Sequel: Villain Best Cover: Headlights UK Worst Cover: Female Fantasy Best Audiobook: Lost Lambs Best Retelling: For Human Use (Gatsby)

Biggest Surprise: 200 Monas Biggest Disappointment: Where No Shadow Stays Biggest Cliffhanger: The Gravewood

Longest Book: Innamorta 537 Shortest Book: Winter Breakage 36

Happiest Book: Pot Shot Saddest Book: The Natural Way of Things Scariest Book: Headlights (for gore) The Natural Way of Things (for plausibility) Smuttiest Book: Dom-Com Most Romantic: 200 Monas Most Unhinged: 200 Monas or Lost Lambs Favorite Character(s): Arvy, Harper, Lili Lowe (200 Monas, Lost Lambs, The Lowe Job) Favorite Book Boyfriend(s): Wolf, Grant, Julian, Caleb (200 Monas, Dom-Com, Pot Shot, The Antiquarian’s Object of Desire.) Favorite Villain(s): Marozia, The Auditor (Innamorata, Villain)

5 Most Anticipated:

1. The Exquisite Torture of Loving Your Enemy
2. I Punched an Alien and Now We’re in Couples Therapy
3. Full Moon Frenzy
4. Dreamland
5. Deadbeat
6. The Knave and the Moon
7. Sunsplitter

good evening PB’s!🥹

this is more a question for UK besties as that’s the library system I’m using but if anyone has any tips and tricks that transcend country or just wanna yap about how you support and utilise your local library then please do!

i’m newly trying to make a real effort to use my local library and that’s simply because for months and months I thought they had no books but I was actually only searching Libby, not realising that there was a separate app for requesting physicals…

✨BUT NOW I KNOW✨

does anyone know what TRANSIT means? does this mean it’s on its merry way to me or between libraries?

if I’m 1 in the hold queue, does that mean it’s zooming to me next?

i’ve looked and there are no activities etc taking place at my local library so i can’t support by attending those, are there other ways myself/others could support that you’re able to share?

hope this is okay to post as it’s still book adjacent😭

thanks in advance for any tips or advice etc🫶

eta: how the helly do i know if books are ready to pick up🥹

After reading a few books, doing a book swap and buying 3 more books today, my physical tbr is at 81 books 😀 Many of these I bought years ago and still haven’t come around to reading but I think i’m going to give HRCYED 3.0 a shot this year and hope we can get that number down! What’s your physical tbr looking like?

Check off the things you have and haven't done and give us your total score!

1. Read a book in one sitting
2. Owned multiple copies of one book
3. Spent hours in a bookshop
4. Gone to a book signing
5. Cried over a book
6. Pre-ordered a book
7. Skipped ahead to the ending
8. Hated a book everyone else loved
9. Bought a book for its cover
10. Stayed up all night reading
11. Met a friend in a book club
12. Had a book hangover
13. Read an entire book series
14. Damaged a library book
15. Thrown a book across the room
16. Binged on reading all day
17. Fallen asleep reading a book
18. Ruined a book in a bath

How many books do y’all do you normally pack when going to the beach for a week? I’m over here with my bag like, “maybe 6 is too many if I’m also bringing my Kobo”.

I tend to read a lot more than usual on vacation, so I’m just wondering how many of you are also prolific book packers…or if one and done is more popular!

So I'm out here on my deck reading, sadly I could only get the version of Death's End that had this insanely stupid sticker printed on the cover when I bought it a few years ago. There was a whole guilt trip story around it and I had to choose a book to get as a gift and this was the only one I knew I wanted as a physical copy.

Pic for ref:

I know we all loathe them, not one actual person exists that wants these😫What I can't understand though is who actually gains something from these?? I mean it's insane to me that these keep being printed on the covers but anytime I see them in a store, they are never really sold. Maybe one or two copies, but if the store has any other version without them, that one gets sold out and these stay on the shelf until some merciful soul removes them.

In that area also, I've recently come across ads in physical books. Bookrelated ads, but still ads. I don't pay for ads and it gets so much on my nerves when publishers think it's ok to plaster them at the end of books.

EDIT: I completely forgot that I also wanted to see if others hate the "endorsements" as much as I do! Lile the Obama one on my book. Obama is a cool dude, great perspective on things and I quite like him as a person as far as I've seen him on tv and such. But I don't really give a rats ass what his opinion on this book is, and it's not going to make me more likely to read it. What it will do is ruin my cover with a stupid qoute, and that is yet again, unforgivable😤

How many other crazy ways to put in ads are out there in the book community? What is the craziest one you've encountered? 🤔

Hello bookworms! I was hoping to get some help from y’all. I have a kindle that’s about ten years old and it’s working pretty well but I think I’m going to have to replace it soon. I avoid Amazon like the plague and while I like using a kindle, I do not want to purchase another one and support them. I wanted to ask what other e-readers you guys are using and how you like them. I primarily get my books from my library so the kindle is really convenient since I can send the book from Libby easily. Would that be possible with other e-readers or would I have to find e-books another way?

Shout out to all of the librarians on PB!!! Looking at all of the services my public library offers - y'all do A LOT!!! I'm so curious what your average work day looks like! And if there was anything you wish more people knew about librarians or about public libraries!

Thank you for all that you do! Y'all are the true MVPs!!

Hello PBees 🐝

I've seen a lot of discussions on book clubs and I myself have recently participated in the first meeting of a promising book club where I live, so I've been thinking about the topic more. I've never been in one myself and I'm really intrigued, but I have a lot of experience with non-profit organizations and some role playing, both relying heavily on people's involvement, so I'm a bit weary about how long it's gonna last and how it will evolve... 😖

That's why I want to know more about your experiences!! 🫵

1. Are you currently in a book club? Is it an online or an in-person book club? What kind of book club is it (frequency, genre, population or any relevant specificity)?
2. Were you ever in a book club? Why are you not in it anymore (was it a long time ago, did it dissolve, did you leave it,...)?
3. If you've experienced a book club, what are your favorite parts of it? What are issues you would like to warn us about?
4. If you are not currently in a book club or never have been, do you wish you were? What's stopping you? What would be your ideal book club?

Welcome to the Literary Potluck, Boundlings! 💜

Your current read decides what you’ve brought! Let us know your book, what meal/drink/food item it brought, and why!

How many point of view characters do you like in a book? I think my sweet spot is 1-2. When I was younger and had more time and energy, I could read epic fantasies with half a dozen or more POVs, grumbling my way through my least-favorite characters' chapters, but I rarely want to read that sort of book anymore.

I ask because I'm reading an average-length horror novel and it started out seeming like it would have three women as its POV characters, which already felt like a bit much for the length and genre, but it's also given me a couple chapters from one woman's teenage brother's perspective, and one or two from her male friend/crush's perspective. It's too much! The book already feels like its moving too slowly without taking these little side-jaunts into what these men who aren't part of the main action think. At this rate it might as well just be third-person omniscient!

So what is your preference? And does it changed based on genre or book length?